Area Introduction

The North East waste area covers the three local authority areas of Moray Council, Aberdeenshire Council and Aberdeen City Council.

The AWP sets out the best practicable environmental option (BPEO) for the management of the area’s MSW. This calls for:

• Preventing waste generation at source
• Increasing segregated kerbside collection of recyclable and compostable materials
• More bring centres and provision of materials recovery facilities (MRFs)
• Introduction of home composting and expansion of small-scale community composting
• Energy-from-waste (EfW) or other recovery/treatment technologies (in the longer term)
• An end to the landfilling of unsorted waste by 2010.

AWP targets for the area’s MSW are 26% recycling, 21% composting, 20% EfW and 33% landfill by 2010. For 2020, the targets are 29% recycling, 21% composting, 17% EfW and 32% landfill. Expansion of kerbside recycling schemes, improvements at recycling centres and numerous local community initiatives resulted in a 7% fall in the amount of MSW landfilled in 2003/04. The North East Master Composter Project promoting home composting began in August 2003.

Funding awards to the local authorities in 2003/04 from the Scottish Executive will help to develop the infrastructure necessary to meet the AWP’s targets. The Waste Aware Grampian campaign and activities led by local authority staff will seek to change attitudes to waste.